The life she deserves
by Always-Keenler
Summary: What if Liz never took the decision she did when the Cabal went after her. What if she had reject Tom a while ago. Could she have the life she always dreams of?
1. Chapter 1

**A lot of my OTP friends ask me to give the writings a try. So, here I am posting my first ever keenler fanfic.**

 **It was meant to be a fluffy one-shot but I had others idea while writing it. So, if you guys like it, I might keep writing it and try to finish it!**

 **Thanks to my beta junior-2323 (on tumblr) for the good comments and correction.**

She wakes up to the delightfully familiar feeling of lips against her neck. The smile that grows across her lips crowds out his victory before she can so much as speak a word.

Triumphant, Ressler pulls back to hover over her, grinning in that cocky, private way he only does for her: lips tugged slightly upward, eyes bright, little lines collecting at their edges. Like it usually does, the look captivates the entirety of her attention, her eyes lingering heavily on his mouth even as she furrows a questioning brow.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this wakeup call?" Liz manages to ask, voice heavy from something far more satisfying than sleep.

Still smiling, playful and secretive, Ressler presses forward once more, zeroes his lips to her, and lets the question lay unanswered in the nonexistent space between them. The question sit there awhile, abandoned in favor of more pressing matters, like the way his tongue tease her and asks for entrance, a demand she'll gladly oblige. He takes her to a place where she nearly forgets the question completely as she simply enjoys the way their tongues fight for dominance.

She digs her fingers out from beneath the sheets and trail lazily across his jaw, tangling themselves in his soft hair. She reaches a soft spot behind his ears that causes him to shiver and break their kiss. The smug look that passes through her brown eyes makes Ressler laugh. It is utterly endearing how self-satisfied she gets when she knows she's having some control over the man who's usually so strict.

"I love you," he breathes into the morning air.

Liz can't help but smile brightly at the three words.

"I love you too." she says, breaking the calm and putting her hands into action once more. Her fingers now trailing lazily along his spine, eventually reaching his butt. Ressler lets her pull him down for another long kiss, his own hands caressing her bare legs. This time, it's her moans that break the air again, showing him her appreciation for the way his fingertips stroke her and her anticipation when she felt his hand coming closer to her already wet panties.

"Mmm, Ress," she manages to whisper.

She adjusts her position below him, opening her legs, making more space for his strong body while her hands making their way to his bulge.

He's already guessed at her plans though, of course he has. He's Donald Ressler, her partner for more than three years now and her lover of little over eight months. He knows her front to back and, well frankly, it's not like it's a move she hasn't try a dozen times before. Quickly, he wriggles out of her grasp just before Liz can pull him down into her again.

"Still curious about the wake up call?" He asks, bringing them back around to the start of her most excellent morning.

Of course, she's been a little distracted the last few minutes, so Liz takes a moment to knit the confusion from her expression. The tilt of her head against the pillow tells him that she still doesn't understand why he woke her up. Smiling tenderly at her, Ressler ducks down to press the quickest of kisses against her lips and then shifts his weight back to get out of bed.

"You slept in late again, Liz—time to get up and get ready for work. We don't want Red to be on our backs again do we?"

She sighs while looking at him leaving their room. He was the only man that could make her forget her past and make her feel normal again. At that moment, she realised that she couldn't picture a life without him, he was her safe harbour. It was now time to take the next step. She got up from their comfy bed with a smile on her face and a plan slowly forming in her head.

 **I hope you guys like it!**

 **Waiting for you guys to choose if I continue it or not**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone,**

 **Sorry for the little delay, I was kind of busy with work!**

 **But here's the new chapter guys! The inspiration came from my fav Castle episode/scene EVER. I think I watched the episode ten times and the scene at least 100 times.**

 **I try to give it justice.**

 **Here's the link of the scene in case you never watch it! watch?v=jygxAUVNfPE**

 _ **10 months priors**_

Ressler hates undercover missions. He hates this one even more because Cooper imposed Liz as his partner. It's not that he doesn't want to work with her or that he doesn't trust her and her skills, she's no doubt better than him when it comes to undercover mission. She's brilliant and she sees things that he doesn't, but she can also be reckless, stubborn, and she often refuses to give up on a mission even if the danger is evident. Now that she's only a consultant for the FBI, she can't carry a gun to protect herself. That means that Ressler needs to put his guard up even more now to make sure both of them make it home in one piece.

It's been an more than an hour since they parked on the outskirts of town, just outside of a bar where their blacklister was last spotted. They were preparing to try and take him down to avoid giving him the chance to run away.

"We're good on the plan?" he asks a little nervous, gaze raking over the determined form of Liz's mouth in the shadowed light of the parking lot.

He has asked that question at least ten times now and he knows she is growing tired of it. She only nods, loose brown hair bobbing over her shoulders, mostly bare, but for the straps of her blue dress.

"It's not a complicated plan Ressler. We've been through more dangerous stuff than that, remember," she breathes, managing to communicate both playful teasing and impatient exasperation in words barely loud enough to hear.

Liz leans back in her seat to peer behind his head and he hears her breathing falter just slightly. It was hardly noticeable, if he weren't so busy carefully observing everything, he wouldn't have perceived it.

"He's out."

And so are they, stepping out of her car with stumbling movements, the second they reach each other, they pitch together. Liz tucks herself against Ressler like a puzzle piece sliding home. He laughs and she giggles as they press close together and completely ignore their target. They act the part of a slightly intoxicated couple too wrapped up in one another to notice or care who might be watching.

It's a slow march forward, Liz pretends to trip over her heels and Ressler awkwardly shuffles, to catch her and tugs her a little more securely into his side. The scent of lilies invade his every thought when she burrows against his clavicle and for a long second, too long given the circumstances, he almost forgets that this is a mission, that they're trying to play the guy hesitantly approaching, but then Liz is muttering between the warm trill of her laughter.

"He's not buying it Ressler," and he looks up just long enough to confirm before his fingers are gliding down her bare arm and spinning her carefully by her wrist.

She twists in his grasp and presses back against Ressler's soft lips and in those first brief seconds she realize what he means to her. Because this, it's so much more than any kiss she has shared with any other man. Two years of working side by side has given her the clarity to know her feelings for him even if she doesn't know his, but the way his mouth is moving across her's answers a lot of recently unasked questions.

They pull apart, gasp for air, and suddenly they're both pretty sure this isn't entirely about the bad guy they desperately need to fool. Ressler's jaw is slack, his face open and amazed as they trade disbelieving gazes. There's no pushing or pulling, just a mutual fall back together as they are balancing a precarious edge between their mission and the tension that's building between them.

Honestly, it's almost entirely luck and coincidence that the exhale of a chuckle catches Liz's attention and throws her eyes open. Their target is retreating now, wide open for an attack and so she tears herself away from Ressler and twists herself around, using the momentum to land a closed fist against the back of his skull that knocks their blacklister flat .

"That was amazing," Ressler breathes heavily, still a little bewildered, an audible awe coating the words.

Those feelings are going around though, so she can't blame him, even as she turns to give him a look part puzzled, part curious. What, precisely, was amazing?

"The way you knocked him out, I mean," he stumbles, tripping over his words in a way he has never done with her before.

She wants to analyze, organize, examine, and postulate because she's not sure she can go back to the way they were, only partners. But they're standing in a parking lot, over an unconscious body. Liz doesn't have a lot of high expectations for her love life but this is definitely not the place for this conversation, not if it can be helped. So, "let's go, yeah," spills from her lips before either of them can breach the elephant in the room before they're ready, or worse, before the blacklister wakes back up. Turning, she leaves Ressler with the body and makes her way to unlock the car for their trip back to the Post Office.

Ressler watches her go for what feels like forever before collecting his scattered wits their passed out bad guy, and meeting her at the car.

 **Next chapter will come sooner, I promise!**

 **Thanks to my beta for the precious help!**

 **So, who do you think will talk about it first?**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hello everyone!**_

 _ **First, I would like to thank you all for the beautiful reviews!**_

 _ **Like I said in my other fic, I'm sorry for the delay.**_

 _ **I hope you will enjoy that chapter!**_

It was a late night in the post-office, everything was calm, almost every light was turned off. The only sign of life was the soft breathing of two people, two partners working hard on a case given by none other than the Concierge of Crime. It was the first time they found themselves completely alone since their undercover mission and so much was left unsaid.

"It's not really all that well hidden, this thing between us," Ressler said.

And just like that, it was out in the air, acknowledged for the first time. It was more than a thought hiding in their minds, more than the moon-eyes they constantly share, more than the hundreds of touches that were meant to be friendly but weren't. Relief colored both of their expressions as the words filled the space between them.

"For some times now, I thought maybe it was just me," Liz admitted quietly, half her mouth turned up in a hesitant smile.

Her guarded expression stretched into a full grin at Ressler's breathy chuckle.

"So did I."

And it's those words that gave her the courage to turn and meet the gaze of her partner. She could tell he was searching for the same thing she was.

Both of them would probably agree over how they were happy that Red wasn't watching them during that moment. They probably looked like dumbstruck teenagers, standing in the middle of a quiet room, caught up in one another and the rapidly unraveling possibilities that had been building between them for years now.

Whatever he was looking for, whatever signs he needed, he must've found it because a gentle and tiny smile grew on his lips as he reduced the space between them. He was about to break every barrier that they've spent years constructing under the banner of partnership.

He's steps were cautious. She knew his slow pace was meant to give her an opportunity to run away, to let this die here and now, if that's what she wants. It only made her feelings for him grow stronger.

But, it's not what she wants, so Liz moved to meet him the middle, just the way they've been doing for years. Ressler angled down to meet her with ease. She pressed up on her toes to gain the last few centimeters she needed to meet his lips. Her fingers quickly tangled in his hair, pulling him impossibly closer. Their mouths finally met and moved around each other tentatively, testing the other's reaction. It was built with an intensity and curiosity that promised so much more.

When they pulled back, breathless and grinning, Ressler pressed his forehead to Liz's and heldher gaze in a way that made her heart miss a beat.

"I should have done that a long time ago."

He felt her little laugh more than he could hear it.

"It wouldn't have been the right time," she breathed, quiet and certain. "With Tom, Audrey and the Cabal," and everything else that's conspired to get them there.

"But it's the right time now?" And suddenly there was a hint of fear in Ressler's voice, something she never heard from him.

Liz thought that it must have been the voice he used as a boy, worried that something bad would happen to his dad as he left for work. It's a thought that warms her and causes a flurry of thoughts to enter her conscious. She pushes them to the side for now, grinning as she answered his question by pressing back onto her toes for another long kiss.

It is definitely the right time now. Finally.

 _ **Aren't you all happy that the time is finally right for them? I hope it will happen like that someday!**_


End file.
